Secrets of the Job Hunt

Friday, May 18, 2007

According to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey, 16 percent of workers say they arrive late to work at least once a week. One-in-four of all workers (25 percent) admit to making up fake excuses to explain their tardiness.

When asked to identify the primary cause for coming in late, 31% of workers attributed it to traffic. 16% cited falling back asleep while 8% pointed to getting their kids ready for school or day care as the main culprit. Other popular reasons included a long commute, forgetting something at home and feeling sick.

Broken down by gender, males are less likely to be late with 41 percent saying they have never been late for work in their current position compared to 37 percent of females. Males are also less likely to lie about why they're late - 22 percent compared to 28 percent of women.

Hiring managers don't typically question the validity of the reasons provided, but 27 percent say most of the time they don't believe the excuses.

Here are there top ten examples of the most unusual excuses employees offered for arriving late to work:

1. Someone was following me, and I drove all around town trying to lose them. 2. My dog dialed 911, and the police wanted to question me about what "really" happened. 3. My girlfriend got mad and destroyed all of my undergarments. 4. I woke up and thought I was temporarily deaf. 5. I just wasn't "feelin' it" this morning. 6. I was up all night arguing with God. 7. A raccoon stole my work shoe off my porch. 8. I super-glued my eye thinking it was contact solution. 9. I was putting lotion on my face when my finger went up my nose causing a nose bleed. 10. A prostitute climbed into my car at a stop light, and I was afraid my wife would see her and think I was messing around ... so I got out of the car.